WEBVTT >> WELCOME BACK TO "MATTER OF FACT."MORE THAN 5,500 VETERANS HAVE RECEIVED T MEDAL OF HONOR.EACH HAS A REMARKABLE STORY OF BRAVERY.EVERY RECIPIENT IS BESTOWED WITH A LIFETIME OF BENEFITS.YET FOR IN IT HAS BEEN A CASE OF HONORED DELAYED. THERE ARE SOME HEROES WHO WERE DENIED THE MEDAL FOR DECK EIGHTS BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE OR ETHNICITY OR RELIGION.CONSIDER THE STORY OF STAFF SERGEANT MELVIN MORRIS, WHO ENLIST IN THE ARMY AT AGE 17 AND SERVED TWO TOURS IN VIETNAM AS A GREEN BERET. >> WHAT YEAR WERE YOU GIVEN THIS? >> THAT WAS IN OCTOBER OF 1961 WHEN PRESIDENT KENNEDY AUTHORIZED THE GREEN BERET, WE HAD A CEREMONY, AND WE ALREADY HAD THESE TUCKED AWAY.ONCE HE AUTHORIZED IT, WE GOT RID OF THE HARD HAT AND PUT ON OUR GREEN BERETS, AND THE BATTLE WAS ON.>> SOU VIETNAM, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1969. STAFF SERGEANT MORRIS WA LEADING ONE OF THREE GROUPS OF SOUT VIETNAMESE SITERS INTO A LITT KNOWN HAMLET.THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO INSPECT AND THEN CLEAR T AREA.>> WE MOVED ON IN OUT OF THE VILLAGE INTO THE TREE LINE. BY THE TIME WE GOT INTO THE TREE LINE, THE WHOLE WORLD OPENED UP.>> HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE FIRING THOUSANDS OF ROUNDS.>> CAPITAL TOMMY DANIEL AND TEAM SERGEANT RANDLE HAGAN WERE AMBUSHED BY VIETCONG WHO HAD BEEN HIDING IN BUNKERS. >> I GOT A CALL TELLING ME THAT THE TEAM SERGEANT WAS DEAD. I ASKED MORRIS, DO YOU KNOW WHERE HAGAN IS? HE SAID YES, I DO.I WILL LEAD US IN THERE.>> MORRIS TOOK TWO VOLUNTEERS AND CROSSED ENEMY LINES TO GET SERGEANT HAGAN'S BODD DWRI. -- BY IDEA. >> PUSHED BUY OR SELL A BARRAGE OF ENEMY FIRE.HE WAS SHOT.>> I HAD TO GET TO THE BODYSO I SAID I WAS GOING IN. >> WHAT MORRIS DID IS NOT JUST A HEROIC WAR STORY, IT WAS A MOMENT OF VALOR DEFINED.MORRIS SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED THE ENEMY FORCE THAT HAD HIS BATTALION PINNED DOWN.IN THE FOG OF GUN FIRE, HE HAD BEEN SHOT TWO MORE TIMES. HE DIDN'T STOP. >> Y TAKE EVERY EFFORT YOU CAN TO RECOVER HIS BOD.YOU DON'T SURRENDER A BODY TO NO ONE. YOU ARE DOING WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO.THAT'S IT.>> IS THAT YOUR MOTTO?>> THAT IS MOTTO.DO WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO. >> WHAT HE DID WAS MAKE SURE THE BODY OF SERGEANT FIRST CLASS RONALD HAGAN GOT HOME TO HIS WIFE AND FOUR CHILDREN IN MILWAUKEMORRIS' WOUNDS WERE PAINFUL.HIS FINGERS HAD TOB RE-ATTACH -- HAD TO BE REATTACHED.THE BROTHERS WHO FOUGHT WITH MORRIS THAT DAY RETURNED TO FIGHTING. THEY FEARED THEY MIGHT NOT SURVIVE THE WAR, SO THEY HURDWRIED TO GET RECOGNITION FOE MORRI HEROISM.>> THE ACTIONS THAT MORRIS TOOK WE TRULY REMARKABLE.THERE WAS LITTLE DOUB IN MY MIND THAT THEY NEEDED TO BE RECOGNIZED WITH A VERY SERIOUS VALOR AWARD.>> RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VALOR AWARDS COME FROM COMMANDERS IN THE FIELD.THE MEDAL OF HONOR REQUIRES EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS, AND APPROVAL GOES ALL THE WAY UP TO THE PRESIDENT.>> SO WHY NOT THE MEDAL OF HONOR?>> I WISH I COULD ANSWER THAT.WHEN I FIRST COME IN 19, THE ARMY WAS BEING INTEGRATED, BUT IT WAS STILL INTEGRATED BUT SEGREGATED. I FELT THAT SOMETIMES THEY LOOKED DOWN ON YOU, THAW ARE NOT AS GOOD A SOLDIER AS THEY ARE.>> DO YOU THINK THAT KIND OF STUFF PLAYED A ROLE IN BEING OVERLOOKED FOR THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE HONOR? >> YES. YOU HAVE PEOPLE THAT STILL THINK THAT WAY. >> DID THAT BIAS DENY STAFF SERGEANT MORRIS A MEDAL THAT COULD HAVE TRANSFORMED HIS LIFE? >> IF I WAS AWARDED THE MEDAL OF HONOR BACK IN 1969, IT WOULD HAVE MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE. >> STAFF SERGEANT MORRIS SERVED IN VIETNAM, THE FIRST WAR WHERE TROOP UNITS WERE FULLY INTEGRATED. IF HE HAD BEEN AWARDED THE MEDAL OF HONOR WHEN HE WAS FIRST RECOGNIZED FOR VALOR, IT COULD HAVE CHANGED HIS LIFE.HIS TWO SONS WH PURSUED MILITARY CAREERS WOULD HAVE BEEN ADMITTED TO THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY. HE WOULD HAVE RECEIVED MONTHLY STIPENDS AND EXTRA RETIREME MONEY THAT COULD HAVE HELPED HIM FUND HIS DAUGHTER'S EDUCATION.AND HIS CAREER WOULD HAVE BEEN FAST TRACKED BECAUSE OF THE

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Valor Defined: The Story of Staff Sgt. Morris’ Medal of Honor

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Updated: 9:23 AM CST Nov 13, 2017

Staff Sgt. Melvin Morris earned his Medal of Honor during one of two tours in Vietnam as a Green Beret. Crossing enemy lines and taking three shots to his chest and arm, he singlehandedly destroyed enemy barracks, all to retrieve the body of team sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Hagen. Morris’ motto: “You got to do what you got to do.” After this act of valor, he was recommended for consideration for the Medal of Honor, but it would be decades before the honor was bestowed.